Reinforced bag having flexible cover smoothed by its securing means



Dec. 6, 1949 J. N. LOWE 2,490,222

REINFORCED BAG HAVING FLEXIBLE COVER SMOOTHED BY ITS SECURING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 15, 1948 INVENTOR. fl (K m-p A! law E.

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Dec. G, 1949 J. N. LOWE REINFQRCED BAG HAVING FLEXIBLE COVER SMOOTHED BY ITS SECURING MEANS Filed Jan. 15, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR. czv sipfl N [0W5 ATTJf/VEX Patented Dec. 6, 1949 emini cent B G mwme 1 6 eovnn -sMoo'rHED BY rrs SECURING MEANS iosep hlN. Lowe, New York, .N. h pncatiunnnuary 13, 1 948, Serial No. 2am

or overlaps whicho'verlab the-adjacent-edges of the'bodi'es of the bags when the 'covers are fully closed,but-said siiiewallsfhave not always been uniformly taut-and-smedtawhen the covers are closed to correspond with the tautness and smoothness .Of'thfe sidewalls "or bottoms of the bags, the 'difiiculty 'dfthe bottoms taut and smoothhaving been vmuch more easily overcome. I 1 r VIt'is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide bags with such cover secur- 1 m means, as 'emboilyhookles's"fastenings or the like that when the flexibl'eicoveits of ;the bagsare fully closed theqside or to'p walls of the covers, which wallsareopiiositetbfthe "side walls or bottoms or the lbae's. will have been .s'fibiected to tension .in such was that .the Side Walls or the covers are inadesaniplvjtalit'and smooth throughout. Otherobjec'tsai'eto provides'tron'g, durable, .eflicient and attraetive.lightwei'ghtlugga e with a round, \square Lor other desirable shape.

I Briefly, the invention embraces a hand bag having .the peripheryo'rjits main body reinforced throughout and 1a .ilexible overlapping cover hinged to thebody the securing means for the cover partly. loeatedon the overlapof the cover and partly on the reinforced periphery of the main body and extending :--a substantial distance around the bag,.the-.portion-.of the cover securing means locatedonjthe body extending in a path which runs in opposite-directions from the approximate :midelength ofesuch closure "portion, and'the lengths o fethe path to-each=side-of such mid-length converging towards the overlap ofathe cover,"such'covensecuring means adapted to fully and tightly close and tension the cover in a continuous movement;

Havingstated the nature and general objects of'the invention in the preceding, thehsarn'e will now be fully described and claimed with refer- Fi g.;2 is. aabrokenzaway v-iew;of someof thelbag sufficient :to aillustrate .one scondition thereof closingthe cover;

Fig. 3 is also a broken away view sufficient to show theCOnditiOnaofith-e bag whenthescove'r is closed;

'F -ig. e is a diagrammatic fiat-devel'opment of important pieces "of the mag; part of which is in section to illustrate a reinforcement;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the bag showing its coverpa-rtly open; and

Fig. -6 :is nan enlarged section an line -6-6 of Fig.5.

Referring :to then'rawings exeept Fig; i 4, which wines described ater-on herem, the handba or the .like comprises a main container-body N] with a h-and-ie I 0a and a hinge cover of flexible sheet material such as leather iorexan ible; which has a side-or top wan H corresponding to and in area with that-"of the oiiptssite s'ideor bottom wall of theibag bod y which'hsualiydsal'so composed-of leather or the like.

The-cover of the basis adaptedto beclosed by hookiess fastenihgsorthe like i2, l-fijthe elements 12 thereof being located on the bag bodyand the co -operat'ing elements i 3- onth'e eoven'thef asten= ing havinga tab =0rtal'on M and'a's lide l5 for operating the same.

The I peripheral =Wa-l1 of the bag body l0 has "an outer covering-of leather-brother fieiiible=mater m1 we to fur'nish the finish offthe a e body and ma e it attractive. Such flexible covering 16 extend-s from Y t e side "wall tr bottom or the body to an edge 16f oi the body "where the cover is located,- alnd at-such edge the covering jlt is turn ed 'inwardly'for "a distance and "is secured to the lining I? of the bodywhi'ch may "be of light form and ornamental fabric, v

:In the freespace provided betweenxthe covering material 16 and the lining 11 "the peripheral wail of the bag may .is' stro gly rein'fo'r'ce'd "for the depth'thereof and entirely around it"by means bf stiff yet'flexiblesheets 1a of fiberboard or other suitable"sheet'maiterial.

I For attaching 'thefhook elements 12 of the 'f ooklessfastening'to the bag bodylfby tape l9tlie iatter is sewed by'stitehing15 within thefoldjdi longitudinally fol'd'e'd i's'trip20 of'flexible ma;- terial such as leather which stripis smashed at 11 Ltothe covering brrne page say, aha-between the "s'triffZU and "above it's'fold a'baekine-up str pe: of fiberboard or other suitable reinforcing material maybe secured longitudinally by a line of 'stitchingZG to the body covering l t and which extends therealong :below the {fastener elements. 42; Said backing-11p strip :22 -,extends for about half of its width below the ,fastener /elements '32 and the other half offitsawidthzextendszto thezfoid Of the: covering 16 atithe'edgez I 6 ':.of=the;bag bodx;

3 and as disclosed by aforesaid patent the function of said strip is to protect the said covering against defacement or injury by the hookless fastening.

Now referring to the cover of the bag, the flexible material thereof is provided at the edge of its side wall or top H with a narrow overlap or rim 23 which extends therealong to each side of the hinge of the cover and which is formed with a bead 24, which at least extends for the length of such overlap, although preferably the bead extends entirely around the said side wall to make a proper finish to the bag, but as such additional extent is not necessary to the invention itself it is not shown. Therefore when hereinafter referring to the overlap or rim 23 and the bead 2t it is to be understood that the overlap and bead on the movable portion of the cover are intended.

Fig. 4 will now be referred to in addition to the other figures of the drawings in order to more fully disclose the construction and its functions, said figure being a graphic development of particular features of the invention as if laid out flat.

The hookless fastening l2, l3, extends for a substantial distance around the body of the bag, as shown in Fig. l, to the limits indicated by the vertical lines A, B, shown in the diagram, Fig. 4,

the hookless fastening extends in two lengths in opposite direction from the approximate midlength thereof, indicated by vertical line D, along paths which diverge from the mid-length and which slant toward the edge l6 of the bag body (see Fig. and they slant toward the overlapping rim 23 of the cover when the same is closed. When the cover is closed the rim tapers gradually in opposite directions from the midlength D while the bead 24 of the cover extends more or less on a line substantially parallel with the line C. This condition is apparent from Fig. l and the mid-length D, Fig. 4, corresponds substantially with the location of the handle.

The construction of the bag is sufficiently shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 for understanding what actually occurs in closing the cover by the hookless fastening. When the tab M of the fastening is pulled, as in Fig. 2, the fastening moves to the left and at a downward inclination until reaching the approximate point indicated by D in Fig. 4, the range of such movement being indicated in said figure by the legend, Dip to partial tension. This means that the overlapping rim 23 of the cover has been pulled down through that range of movement and that partial tension has been given to the corresponding part of the flexible wall ll of the cover. As closure of the cover up to line D has somewhat pulled the overlapping rim 23 toward the partially tensed part vof the cover it is necessary that the remaining part of the cover be subjected to a final tension so that the flexible wall H of the cover will be placed under such tension as that it will be substantially as taut and smooth as the bottom of the bag body and this imparts the final tension on the wall ll thereof.

As a matter of fact, the overlap 23 of the cover is actually pulled down directly onto the outer surface of the backing-up strip 22, the exposed portion of which at the mouth of the bag tapers in both directions away from its approximate mid-length as shown in Fig. 5.

From the drawings and description herein it should now be clear that one continuous operation of the hookless fastening may be used if desired in order to impart the required taut tension on the cover in closing it.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the invention may be more or less modified and still be within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new is:

1. A hand bag having a main container body formed of stiff material and open on one side, a cover of flexible material for said open side, a hookless fastening extending partly around said body for separably securing the cover in closed position on said body, the peripheral margin of said body adjacent said open side being stiff to resist pressure, said hookless fastening comprising a row of fastener elements attached to said body in spaced and non-parallel relation to the edge of said body adjacent said open side, the spacing of a middle portion of said row of fastener elements being greater than the spacing of terminal portions, the cover including a flexible flange of uniform depth when unstretched, the unstretched depth of said flange being less than said spacing of the terminal portions of said row of body attached fastener elements, and said hookless fastening further comprising a row of fastener elements secured to a free edge of said cover flange and engageable with said first named row of fastener elements to stretch said flange and tension said cover, whereby the cover is smoothed throughout its entire area when fully closed by the hookless fastening.

2. A hand bag having a main container body open on one side, a peripheral wall of the body being reinforced throughout, a flexible cover hinged to the body adjacent said open side and having a flexible peripheral flange, complementary cover securing means extending partly around said wall and having one part located on a free edge of the cover flange, and another part located on said wall in spaced and nonparallel relation to an edge of said wall adjacent said open side, that part of the cover securing means located on the wall having its mid-portion spaced further from said wall edge than its terminal portions, and said cover flange and that part of the cover securing means thereon having a combined depth which measures less than the distance between said wall edge and that part of REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,115,307 Kneeter Apr. 26, 1938 2,282,409 Lowe May 12, 1942 

